


Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away

by clio_airestone12



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 02:32:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1671470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clio_airestone12/pseuds/clio_airestone12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a song she used to sing to Prim; a lullaby of sorts. It was supposed to be for her—and only her, but eventually for another blonde she shared her bed with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Hunger Games or the song I'm working with to make this fanfic. They belong to their respective owners.

She first heard the song from her father, when he’d come home from the mines and tuck her into bed after dinner. For other children of the district, they’d be out like a light the moment their head hit the feather pillow, or, if they were lucky, perhaps their worn out parents would spare them a few minutes of their time with a bedtime fable. 

But the Everdeens, particularly not Katniss, had no need for fallacies and whimsical stories that would not get them anywhere or anything. So, Mr. Everdeen put his bird-halting voice to good use, and lull Katniss to slumber with songs. He’d never part from her without singing at least one.

On that night, Katniss’ eyes were heavy, but she was unwilling to go without her Papa’s voice. Her little fingers clutched at his worn shirt just as he turned to leave, and he chuckled, settling back on her bed. He gently ran his fingers across his daughter’s raven hair as he began.

_“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.”_

_The little girl smiled contentedly as she loosened her grip on him._

_“You make me happy when skies are grey.”_

_He nuzzled his nose into her cheek, making her giggle softly. She felt herself close her eyes and succumb to sleep._

_“You’ll never know dear, how much I love you,_

_Please don’t take my sunshine away.”_

When Prim was born, Katniss had to share her father’s few minutes in the night with her. While Mr. Everdeen sang to both his little girls, this was one song that he kept for his eldest. Katniss was content to have it for her own. Keep a small part of Papa just for herself.

 

But not for long.

 

The Everdeen patriarch descended the mines for the last time, and it became his grave. The matriarch descended into depression, lost in her grief. The eldest child made sure that her younger, fragile sister wouldn’t descend onto her knees and buckle over in starvation.

Yet she couldn’t shield Prim from all of it.

They still starved when their rations couldn’t stretch any farther. They were still haunted by the terror that would come when they closed their eyes in the night.

In the end, it was her who sunk to her knees instead. It was her who doubled over with an empty stomach, settling at the foot of a small tree that scarcely shielded her from the thick downpour behind the Mellark’s Bakery. 

And it was him who gave her a glimpse of hope that came in the form of burned bread and dandelions.

The next time Katniss sang for Prim, when the small blond child thrashed in her sleep, seeing monsters and polished hands plucking her name out of the bowl, she carried her voice with the part of her father she had sworn she wanted to keep for herself, and gave it to Prim as well.

_“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine._

_You make me happy when skies are grey._

_You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.”_

Like her Papa did, her hands lightly stroked the blond curls of her sister, whose breathing became steady with peaceful slumber. Katniss smiled slightly and settled back next to her, holding Prim’s smaller body closer.

_“Please don’t take my sunshine away.”_

Yet she couldn’t help it, as she stared the golden top of her sister’s head, when she thought of another pair of blue eyes and a kind soul.

 

She didn’t think she’d have to face him in the arena. 

She didn’t think she’d have to fake a smile and press her lips against his for a bowl of soup.

She didn’t think they’d make it out alive, only to be dragged back in.

She didn’t think she’d have to stare into his deep blue eyes and see longing, hurt and all other forms anguish she didn’t wish for him to feel.

 

It shouldn’t have been a surprise when fate took yet another ray of sunshine from her, when the rug was pulled out from under her feet once again, and sent a silver parachute into Prim’s small hands.

So, at night, when her stomach growled because she was too far in her head to do something as mundane as fill it, when the only source of light she let herself have was the moonlight streaming through her living room windows, when she felt particularly masochistic, she let her voice, so gritty from lack of use, hum a tune that felt foreign now.

_“Please don’t take my sunshine away.”_

She cried out, thrashing and kicking on the couch. The only reply she got was a panicked meow from Buttercup and a crash from the lamp she kicked off.

 

Months later, as she lied tangled in his arms, she felt him freeze, his fingers tightening on her waist. She looked up to see his eyes have darkened to a complete black, almost without a trace of blue in them. His jaw was clenched, and she scrambled out of his grasp.

Without her torso to hold onto, he clutched his hair, nearly ripping it off his scalp. The sounds that came out of him were not unlike a dying animal’s.

She held his face in his hands, fervently whispering “not real” over and over.

He responded in kind, falling off the bed and onto the floor. She followed suit, kneeling next to him. She didn’t know how long the episode would last, but she knew it wasn’t about to end soon. With all the courage she could muster, she held his head to her chest, hanging onto him tighter the more he thrashed.

_“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine”_

His hands were wound tightly around the bed sheets now. 

_“You make me happy when skies are grey_

_You’ll never know dear, how much I love you_

_Please don’t take my sunshine away.”_

When his hold on the sheets wouldn’t give, she continued in a shaky voice.

_“The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping,_

_I dreamt I held you in my arms_

_When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken_

_So I hung my head and cried”_

His breaths were steady now, and he slumped against her shaken form. 

“Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

**Author's Note:**

> My first ever fanfic *phew*  
> I would honestly love to hear your constructive criticism, and other opinions, drop them in the comments below and thank you for reading! :)


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